Disk drives comprise a disk and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and embedded servo sectors. The embedded servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a servo controller to control the velocity of the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.
FIG. 1A shows a prior art disk format 2 comprising a number of data tracks 4 defined by a number of servo sectors 60-2N recorded around the circumference of each data track. Each servo sector 6, comprises a preamble 8 for storing a periodic pattern, which allows proper gain adjustment and timing synchronization of the read signal, and a sync mark 10 for storing a special pattern used to symbol synchronize to a servo data field 12. The servo data field 12 stores coarse head positioning information, such as a track address, used to position the head over a target data track during a seek operation. Each servo sector 6, further comprises groups of servo bursts 14 (e.g., A, B, C and D bursts), which comprise a number of consecutive transitions recorded at precise intervals and offsets with respect to a data track centerline. The groups of servo bursts 14 provide fine head position information used for centerline tracking while accessing a data track during write/read operations.
A defect scan of the data sectors may be performed during manufacturing or while the disk drive is deployed in the field. The defect scan typically involves writing a 2T test pattern to a data track and evaluating the read signal while reading the data track to detect defective areas on the disk. Defects on the disk may cause degradation in the amplitude of the read signal, but it may also cause timing errors when reading data from the data track. FIG. 1B shows an example defect free sinusoidal read signal generated from reading a 2T test pattern, wherein the peak-samples may be evaluated to detect amplitude degradation, and zero-samples may be evaluated to detect timing errors.